


The Island of Misfit Fics

by anthologia



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Grayson (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Red Robin (Comics), Robin (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/M, Implied Bad Stuff, Light Angst, Mental Instability, Unreliable Narrator, because he deserved it, yelling at Dick
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-01-18
Packaged: 2018-05-11 15:14:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5631193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anthologia/pseuds/anthologia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A place for bits of writing that never really blossomed into full AUs or just weren't working quite right.</p><p>2: A little something in which 63!Tim got shunted to the New 52 universe and stuck there because Reasons. Ficlet takes place during the Tim-Jason-Dick scene in Grayson #12.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This first one was supposed to be a Robinpile AU set in the future, with Dick, Jason, Damian, and 63!Tim, but it wasn't coming out as coherent story so much as random scenes, so. To the island it goes, for now.

They’ve changed so much while she was… not here. It’s still so hard to grasp, the concept that she was gone for _years_ , actual years – that they moved forward without her, while she… _well_. It’s jarring to see the differences. Like Damian, who used to be an awkward only-just-teenage boy and is just about her age now. Or – the age she w _as_.

And he hasn’t just grown up physically. He’s… better. Kinder. They all are, doing their best to soften their edges around her because she’s the _broken_ Robin, now. The one that’s made of cracked glass. Even Jason is making an effort, and that’s weird as hell, too. Because he’s here, living in the Manor and working with the family like he never left. He doesn’t hate her anymore. He didn’t _hate_ her before she lost those years, but he didn’t exactly like her, either. That’s all different now.

No one’s explained what happened to Bruce. His absence is just _fact_ , something that doesn’t really need justification, but Tim still ventures into the Batcave out of – something. Curiousity. To see what she can find, even if she half-expects to be thrown out the moment she sets foot on the floor.

It’s changed since she was last down here. The lack of _Bruce_ is so glaring that it masks all the other little differences until she comes face-to-face with a memorial case containing the Red Robin suit. She thinks, for a second, about cracking it open, taking the suit out, but it wouldn’t fit her anymore. Or she wouldn’t fit it. One of the two.

It’s cold in the cave. There’s always been a draft, but now it’s ice on her skin and she’s shaking.

“Tim?”

She flinches. Batman is looking at her with Dick’s eyes, and she still doesn’t know how to cope with that.

He pulls the cape off and wraps it around her shoulders. It’s warm and weighty, _familiar_. “What are you doing down here?” he asks.

“I wanted,” she says, and stops. She didn’t want anything, really – just to see. But without Red Robin, she doesn’t have a _right_ to be down here anymore.

He presses a hand to her arm and leads her to one of the computer chairs. “Why don’t you sit down here while I shower and get changed, and then we can go back up together?”

Tim follows his direction obediently, except: “I’m in a case.”

Dick – Batman – _Dick_ winces. “We didn’t know you were coming back.”

“I don’t mind,” Tim says quickly. “I think - it looks nicer under glass.”

He sighs, leans forward and kisses her forehead. “Stay here, okay? I’ll be right back.”

Waiting is easy. All she has to do is sit and see, watch the bats and try to guess the purposes of the equipment changes until Dick comes rushing back, hair still dripping and shirt sticking to him in damp patches where he didn’t quite dry off. There’s relief in his eyes when he sees that she’s still where he left her.

“Come on, Pretty Bird,” he says, holding his hand out to her.

She follows.


	2. 63!Tim in 52land

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little something in which 63!Tim got shunted to the New 52 universe and stuck there because Reasons. Ficlet takes place during the Tim-Jason-Dick scene in Grayson #12.

His family’s changed so much since he’s been gone. In some ways that make him so _proud_ , like the way Jason and Tim have each other’s backs, and in some ways that are more of a bruise on his heart, like the way Bruce looks at him like he has no idea who Dick is.

Apparently it’s grown, too, since he’s been gone. He finds Red Hood and Red Robin with the new one – Nightingale? On any other day, he’d be thrilled to get to know her, but right now, he’s grateful that she’s pretty quiet while he’s trying to get his message across to Jason and Tim.

“ – And it was my burden to keep, my blame to take, my lie to tell. Not yours. I’m the oldest. I carried that so you didn’t have to.”

He’s just taking in a breath to start on the really important part, the speech he prepared in advance for them to decode, when Nightingale just snaps.

“You _carried_ it so they didn’t _have to_? What the _fuck_ is wrong with you?!”

Tim grabs her elbow, holding her in place, which is nice because Dick is too stunned to block if she decides to follow in Jason’s lead and deck him. “Thea – “

“Oh, how _hard_ it must have been for you to let everyone think you’re dead, to make them _grieve_ you so you can stroll back into their lives like nothing happened. Like your family _dying_ doesn’t rip pieces out of you that you never get back – “

She’s s _haking,_ and Tim just abruptly grabs her and starts leading her away, leaving Dick and Jason alone for the moment.

It’s enough of a shock that Dick almost forgets, for a second, what he came here to say. “What just…?”

Jason crosses his arms. “Long story. You’d know it if you’d been here.”

_Ouch_. But fair enough. Tim’s gone, so his prepped speech isn’t going to work quite right, but he can improvise. “Batman taught us a lot of stuff. Rules, tactics. Everything we’ve done, though, we made it happen cause we did it together. All of that never left me…”

**Author's Note:**

> If you are interested in my fics and want more, I have an account at syntactition.tumblr.com where I have bits of stories that are currently in the works and other ficlets and stories that haven't made their way to AO3.


End file.
